Jamie Davis Biography

founder of Schramsberg Vineyards

Died:February 12, 2008 (Calistoga, California)

Best Known as:pioneer of fine sparkling wine production

Jamie Davis pioneered the production of fine sparkling wine with her husband in California. She and her husband founded Schramsberg Vineyards on Diamond Mountain in the Napa Valley in 1965. When the Davis bought the land it was an abandoned vineyard with a network of caves that were dug out by Chinese railroad workers in the late nineteenth century. They replanted the vineyard with the grapes of Champagne including pinot noir, chardonnay, and pinot meunier. They called their first wine Schramsberg after the man who first planted 100 acres of grapes on the land in. Schramsberg sparkling wines won early recognition and were served in the White House at state dinners by 1972.